


a tale before our time

by duaa



Series: all my childhood heroes have fallen off or died [4]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Evil Deceit Sanders, Gen, Logan centric angst, Never thought id see the day i wrot edeceit as unsympathetic wow, Superhuman Au, Trans!Remy, Unsympathetic Deceit | Janus Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24182668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duaa/pseuds/duaa
Summary: A history of Logan Croft and his experience with Dante Janus Ethans.(can be read as a stand alone)
Relationships: Logic | Logan Sanders & Thomas Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Deceit Sanders
Series: all my childhood heroes have fallen off or died [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1732414
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	a tale before our time

The Academy was a prestigious... well, academy. In a world where mutations led to development of powers, there were the gifted - and the non-gifted. The superhumans (as they were called right now, for in the future, there would be no non-gifted humans; thus making these superhumans normal.) could either live life like a normal human, or decide to use their powers for the good... or bad. Nonetheless, they all started out somewhere, a place of education which would hone their skills and help not only the world, but also the people possessing these powers. The Academy was the oldest and most prestigious of all educational centres in America. There was no fee to get in, no raffle, no bookings. You applied and either got in or did not. Simple as that. Some said that The Academy had a time-traveller, admitting only those who truly mattered. Some said that The Academy had a future-teller, admitting only those who had a bright future ahead. 

Some said that The Academy rolled a dice. The rest believed in a wheel. 

The chances were split equally, after all who knows? Either way, this was where Logan Croft studied. Joining at the tender age of 12, he was a brilliant child. Born to a normal human, Thomas Croft and his late husband Toby, Logan was a mind-reader. He was placed in Class - T3. His class consisted of an assortment of superhumans, all unique and special. He was classified as a 6Blue. That classification system is now obsolete, too broad and too narrow to be comfortably used anymore. The classification system then was as follows: first, the probability of developing secondary powers (on a scale of 1 to 10, decimals not included) and then the broad colour-coded scheme for the type of power they possessed. The powers that fell under 'blue' consisted of mind-reading, telepathy, mind-control, persuasion and a few more mis-labelled powers that were later corrected. Logan Croft was a 6Blue, whose favourite colour was also blue. There were quite a few number of students in 6Blue, but none of them are important right now. 

'Dante' Janus Ethans was a 1Blue from Class - T8. He had the useful skill of persuasion, and was quite a popular person, seeing as how he was the only person in 1Blue. The students with higher possibilities of developing secondary powers were popular, because of obvious reasons. The students with the lowest possibilities were also popular, as it meant that their powers were more 'concentrated'. Of course, that sort of wording was also abolished, such abstract ways of measurement were quickly thrown out. Dante wasn't his real name, his real name was Janus Avory Ethans. He had learnt that Janus was a weird name and kids made fun of him, so when he was presented with a fresh start, he convinced his parents to let him change his name. They obviously said yes. He _persuaded_ them, after all. Wanting to pay homage to his true name, he let Janus be his middle name. His parents sent him away to The Academy in the hopes of living life of their own accord. Janus was always more than ready to persuade his parents into doing what he wanted, except he hadn't completely mastered his skill by then. They always snapped out of it halfway through, angry and scared. Janus' mom was a religious lady, and she spent days praying that Janus would get accepted. It would have saved her some trouble had she known that The Academy was not the only place to house superhumans. (A secret, that only you and I know, is that Janus' father was a superhuman. He had the ability to know exactly how someone was feeling. This is a secret only known to us because Janus' father was not aware of this. He thought that he was a people person.)

So when Dante had realised that he had gone from a loser to the most cool kid in school, he was more than ready to stay the summer and every vacation at school. His parents breathed a sigh of relief and loved their son from afar. This went well, because Dante didn't realise that his parents were afraid of him, so he had a merry time thinking that he hit jackpot. Only years later would he realise that he had driven them away because of his unceasing shenanigans, a fault with blame equally divided. 

This is of a time we care not so much about. 

When they were 14, Logan Croft and Dante Ethans' paths collided. They were paired for a project on some of the massive failures by the American government and how superhumans could have solved those problems. Logan Croft was just then realising that being around people made his head hurt, and contributing to futile conversation just made it harder for him to tune them out. He was also realising that he loved reading and writing weekly letters to his father about the occurrences at school. He also then started breaking a rule, a rule that forbid students of different 'colours' (yes, no one saw the problem with that phrasing or terminology) some mixing together in commons. Logan understood that the Purple group were mostly people who could freeze time, time travel or had super speed. Those people's thoughts either whirred by Logan too fast for him to hear, or were completely absent. So he would sneak into their commons, and none of them ever questioned what he was doing there, too busy in warping time to their fantasies. 

Speaking of breaking rules; Dante, meanwhile was breaking hearts, rules, objects - if he saw it, he would break it. Not in a barbaric way, no, in a more sophisticated way. He wanted things that he did to have impact, some meaning. He wore what he wanted, went where he wanted to - no one could stop him. He kissed anyone he wanted to, and winked and left. Somewhere along the way, the snark and sarcasm mixed into his personality. He didn't realise that he was being mean or rude, he just did what he did. 

And so they did their project and aced it, as was expected. Dante had thought of it no more, focusing on more important things. 

But Logan? The project was all he could think about.

To be more specific, Dante was all he could think about. He liked Dante terribly so, with as much dogged devotion only a teenager in love could muster. He liked everything about Dante. From the way he relaxed into positions that were far too practised to be natural to the way he laughed with his head thrown back like he cared about nothing in this world. Logan liked the way Dante moved, the way he put on a show for everyone else whenever he persuaded someone to do his bidding. He liked the way Dante broke rules and got away with it, he liked everything. 

He had told his father so. His father had told him to be careful. Like anyone else in love, he had huffed and pouted and insisted that Dante was the one. Thomas was a wise man. He hadn't panicked or cried or screamed when Logan's powers were revealed. He didn't slip into an inconsolable rage or abandon Logan when his husband died. He knew what to do each time. One time, when Logan was younger and more free, he had heard some girls making fun of him. Out loud. He cried and cried and cried, and then cried some more. Thomas was at a loss for words, he didn't know what to do. Until he did. He told Logan that it didn't matter and explained to him that people had their opinions. Logan had listened to him with wide, bloodshot eyes. He nodded and nodded, tears falling off his cheeks and chin. When he came back from school the next day, he talked about what he did and what his teacher said - those girls were no where on his list of Important Things To Tell Dad. Logan never thought of it again, only remembering that Dad knew what to do, always. Thomas had done everything he could for his son. He always knew what to do, always knew the correct course of action. Except this time. His son was heading straight towards heartbreak and there was nothing Thomas Croft could ever do. He had to sit at home, strung like a wire, waiting for his Sunday letter to arrive on Monday mornings, watching from the sidelines as Logan sailed directly into the siren's lair. 

Thomas Croft was a wise man, and was very much correct about this. 

Logan was falling deeper, and deeper in love, and one fine day, had decided to reveal his feelings for Dante. He used to live amongst mind-readers and telepath, he didn't want to be a rumour flying around. So he had waited for the oppurtunity to be alone with Dante Ethans, to ask him out on a date. He had gotten his chance when they were standing next to each other in the lunch line. Dante's friends were sitting at their usual table, waiting for their packleader to return. 

Logan, palms clammy and heart pounding had cleared his throat. "Dante?" 

"Hmm?" Dante looked at him expectantly and Logan's heart soared.

"Would you like to go on a date with me?" 

In that moment, Logan had been waiting for an answer. Hopefully The Answer. He had, of course, also prepared himself for the Other Answer. Dante Ethans, on the other hand, had been escatic. Brimming with glee and joy, he had stepped sideways, voice loud and clear as always. 

"Oh Logan." He had begun, in a voice all-too loud for Logan's liking, in a voice that captured every single person's interest for a show was going on, and who were they to refuse it? "I wouldn't even entertain the _notion_ of liking a loser like you, much less go on a _date_!" 

Logan Croft was familiar with a lot of things. Anger, annoyance, apathy, despair, disappointment, discouragement, disgust, fear, frustation, guilt, hopelessness, impatience, loneliness, rage, regret, sadness - and now, heartbreak. Embarrassment. The feeling of wanting to die, of wanting the Earth to split apart and swallow him whole. The words rang through his ears again, bouncing around. Later on, he would realise that he didn't remember the rest of that whole day, what happened after. 

That was thanks to a Ramina Beltore, 9Blue. Ramina, as she went by that at that time, had powers to control people that touched her tendrils of smoke. In a feat of great excellence, she put the _whole_ school to sleep, moving them all back to their commons. Except Dante, she decided that he didn't deserve any of it. Unforutuantely, such a high amount of power strain knocked her out completely, leaving present day Remy Beltore with no remembrance of what he did nor of the events that had transpired that day in the lunch hall. Only three people know of this; me, you and a particular Joan Stoakes. Joan Stoakes had been a low-level recruiter for a company called the BH. They had seen what Ramina Beltore had done, and had decided to write down her name for consideration before being put to sleep as well. Years later, Joan Stoakes would go on to get higher posts, except they made sure that a particular Beltore, 9Blue from Class - O8 was recruited.

**Author's Note:**

> lmk if you see a typo!  
> hope you like it ❤️💕
> 
> need a beta? want someone to write that fic you've been desperately wanting to read? [ here's my tumblr ](https://kameraishere.tumblr.com)


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